


The Mistake

by Aithilin



Series: Dreamwalkers of Eos [3]
Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Dreamwalking, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-15
Updated: 2017-10-15
Packaged: 2019-01-17 18:33:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,455
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12371604
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aithilin/pseuds/Aithilin
Summary: Noctis was not supposed to attempt dreamwalking without Nyx's active guidance.





	The Mistake

**Author's Note:**

> Originally prompted as part of my [Fluffabet](http://aithilin.tumblr.com/post/165255911779/fluffy-alphabet-prompts), it sort of took a life of its own.

There were plenty of reasons why they didn’t practice outside of Nyx’s quiet little apartment. Or on other people. There were plenty of reasons Nyx preferred to take Noct to his own bed for these sorts of things— surrounded by familiar talismans and mementos of his homeland. They had set ground rules for a reason, one that he had explained plenty of times to Noctis before they started the practice and work of untangling the dreams that floated so easily between them now. 

“I told you to rest, kitten.”

“I am resting.” 

Nyx preferred to work back at his apartment, with his things, and the familiarity and safety nets he’s cast around the place out of habit. “Never spending a night in your bed again if I can help it now.”

“It’ll be fine.”

Noctis was not strong enough to dreamwalk on his own, not in any real manner. Not in the same way Nyx was only just starting to show him. Noctis was too impulsive and distracted, to easily started and too easily lost. 

“Do you remember the way home?”

“Sure.”

“Noct—”

“We’ve done this before, hero.” It was that smile Nyx couldn’t resist, that smirk that he recognised and the confidence it carried. “We won’t go deep.”

Nyx didn’t dream of Galahd anymore— he had blocked those dreams. He left them to memory, to avoid the wishes that still drew Liberus into his own bitterness. He didn’t dream of the forest and the house before it was burning, or Selena as she teased him and sketched and laughed as she was now. He didn’t dream of home. Not like this. This wasn’t his. “What did you do, Noctis?”

“Who is that?”

“My sister: Selena.” 

They were in the forest, on the paths that would lead to the old havens and the Canyon. The air was heavy in a familiar, long dead summer, and Nyx caught Noct’s arm before he could get too far ahead. Before he could follow Selena too far along the sun-bright path towards the rush of water below steep cliffs. Nyx remembered this, that smile and the way the carefully groomed paths twisted. He remembered Selena’s brightness in the summer, at the way the breeze chased her through the head. He remembered the way the warmth had settled in his chest as he watched these memories play out time and time again after leaving Galahd. 

“She got all the good looks in the family, then,” Noct was teasing, smiling. Chasing the dead. 

“We need to go back, kitten.”

“What could possibly happen in your dreams, hero? It’s not like this is a warzone.”

Nyx sighed and followed Noct as he went deeper, as he followed the path— and the ghost— deeper into the Canyon. He knew how to get out of a warzone safely. 

What was a breeze on the upper cliffs was a cool wind in the depths of the Canyon— chilled by the wet stone and rushing water. The leaves and grasses around them moved with the chill, the shadows cast long across the water. The nets and picnics and toys left scattered at the base of the trees Nyx remembered tying ropes from to swing over deeper waters. He remembered Libertus’ laughter and Crowe’s squealing giggles as they took turns splashing into the cold depths at the edge of the haven. He remembered the nights counting stars above and little chasing a little Astral through the darkness. 

“We’re not going in there,” he said as Selena disappeared into the cave. “We’re going home, now.”

“Nyx, it’s fine.”

“No, it’s not. We’re going home.”

Dreams were different, they progressed. They didn’t seep shadows through the tall grass or fade in and out time without some trigger. They didn’t just change, or meld together like this— with the sunny warmth of home one moment and the stars cutting through the clear night the next. Dreams followed some sort of logic that could be pieced together at the time. “Why are we following my sister, Noctis?”

“What?”

“Why are we following Selena?”

“Because…” He knew that confusion on the prince’s face, and he knew that darkness seeping out from the cave that seemed closer than it should be. The cave back home was bright and sunspotted— there were lights strung around it from their childhood adventures, a generator dragged down by his father years ago to keep the lights going. But even in the darkest nights spent chasing Carbuncle with Selena through the maze of tunnels in that cave, Nyx knew that it shouldn’t be that dark. So inscrutable. 

“We’re going home, little star.”

“Yeah.” Noctis was still drawn to the cave, Nyx could feel the tug against his grip as he pulled them both away from the creeping, oozing darkness spilling from the gaping maw the cave seemed to be. “I can’t remember—”

“Don’t say that,” he didn’t mean to snap it, to make Noctis tense. “Look at the stars, Noct. I’ll get us out of here, but look at the stars.”

“Why?”

“Because you know the stars in Lucis, right? Ignis used to tell you all about them.”

The marks of the Oracle were fading from the haven, but Selena was sitting by the fire, speaking to him without the sound of her voice leaving her lips. Her eyes were different— golden in the fire light, the mascara she never wore in life trailing like tears down her face. He would be embarrassed later at how long it took to realise what she was, if he remembered. But it was the orange strip of tattered scarf, around her shoulders that shocked him from the vision. 

“Tell me about the stars, Noct.”

“I— I don’t see the Lucis stars.”

“Sure you do. Tell me about the constellations.”

“Nyx, I can’t remember—”

“Can you see the King’s Star?” Nyx kept his eyes on Selena, manifested a kukri, guided them around the darkness that had taken hold of the little have. “C’mon, kitten, you can see that one from your balcony back home.”

“Yeah, yeah, I can see it.”

“Good, how about the Knight? Or the Shield?”

The darkness had wrapped around Selena now, had seeped into her veins like a poison. She was still smiling to him, inviting him closer. 

“Yeah, and the steeds,” Noct took a deep breath, and Nyx only glanced at him to ensure his eyes were still on the stars. “Leviathan is too low in the sky, though.”

“Then take us higher.”

“Can’t you do it? It’s your—”

“You started this, little star.” Nyx felt more than heard the approach of the newcomer in the Canyon before the vision shifted. He felt the steady beat of huge paws— a behemoth, a jabberwock— and the chuckle that made his skin crawl and his grip on the blade in his hand tighten. 

It was warm in the apartment, the starts shimmering far above the Wall overhead. The safety net he had half cast before falling into Noct’s bed still in place, and a prince now pressed against him in the soft light. The wilderness of the river and the canyon and the damp stone walls gone in favour of the glitter and promise of life that came with the city. Deep below them, in the streets, Nyx could see his sister vanishing in the crowd. Her yellow eyes and seeping black tears slipping away with her. 

Noctis gripped his shirt, focused on him like their lessons dictated. “I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay, kitten,” Nyx dismissed the blade, let it fall from his hand so he could stroke Noct’s hair, and the little beads worked into the short braids. He struggled to remember the sound of Selena’s voice. “It’s okay. Let’s wake up now, okay?”

In the morning, Nyx would tease Noct awake with kisses and smiles and the featherlight touches that had the prince begging beneath him. In the morning, Nyx would laugh and promise that the mistake was forgiven, but spend the day working on casting his safety net and teaching Noct to do the same. There would be coffee waiting for them and pointed ignorance from Ignis over the noises Nyx drew while buried in his lover. There would be questions about food and plans, and Prompto would be texting Noct before the eggs were ready. 

Later, Nyx would drag Noct out for supplies, and declare that Gladio was coming along to carry things. There would be the tools of Nyx’s trade spread out across the living room and Noct would learn to tie knots in a literal net by teaching the technique to Prompto as Nyx carved the beads. 

Nyx just wished he could remember the sound of Selena’s voice, and the colour of her eyes.


End file.
